BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Checking your mailbox might be a part of your weekly routine – to be notified of bills or simply to get a letter from a loved one. However, the Internal Revenue Service is urging everyone to be aware of scam mail where scammers are posing to be IRS agents in hopes of stealing your personal information. Sensitive information such as your social security number, cell phone number, and bank routing information, among other things.
“This one is an actual mailer in a cardboard envelope coming from a delivery service that is delivered in relation to a tax refund so it says and then it wants you to provide sensitive information,” explained IRS spokesperson Raphael Tulino.
Tulino says the IRS would not inquire about that information via mail when it comes to one’s tax refund.
“We don’t reach out to you about your tax refund. The IRS doesn’t, that is. If you have a tax refund question about a refund that you are getting based on a return you filed, whether it's late or why it's smaller or those kinds of things, you’re going to be proactive and contact us.”
Tulino adds one main indication that lets you know you have received a scam envelope in the mail is odd punctuation and grammar within the letter saying things such as: "Once you send all the information please try to be checking your email for response from the agents thanks."
“Those are signs of any kind of a scam via email or text or in this case this mailer with misspelled words and things that don’t quite make sense in sentences and that kind of thing,” said Tulino.
Tulino says another red flag that will let you know you have received scam mail is if the letter asks for specific images of your driver’s license. He says if you suspect you have become a victim of identity theft, whether via phone email or mail contact the IRS immediately.
